Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is a restaurateur, author and Emmy-winning host of many hit series on Food Network, including “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” but he’s also proud of his lesser known but still lofty other title. “I’m a condiment king!” he boasts. “Our refrigerator at home is loaded with everything you can imagine.”
Enter Fieri’s latest crowning achievement: Flavortown Sauces, a line of nine spicy barbecue sauces and condiments that include picks like Honey Mustard, Smokin’ Hickory BBQ, Kickin’ Chipotle and, of course, his signature Donkey Sauce (a mix of creamy aioli with garlic and lemon). “Put a sauce on toasted bread for a sandwich or add it to a burger,” he says. “It will elevate any dish.”
Fieri, who launched the line in March, says he’s been developing the sauces for years, leading to taste tests galore. “I think there were 10 versions of the honey mustard,” he says. “I’d bring all my friends and family over for Sunday football with all these sauces laid out and everybody would sit there with crackers and write down their feelings. So this is the real deal. I feel like a proud dad!”
In his home kitchen in Northern California, Fieri says he cooks almost every day and recently whipped up a noodle and beef dish for his family. “It’s like how a musician will play a big concert and then continue to strum the guitar after it’s over,” he says. “This is my art.”
Ahead, the self-proclaimed “condiment king” shares five of his tried-and-true kitchen essentials with CNN Underscored.
Anytime a recipe calls for, say, lemon zest or Parmigiano Reggiano, Fieri whips out this tool from Microplane. Crafted with a soft-touch handle (his is green) and surgical-grade steel blades, it cuts through soft and hard foods without tearing. “It’s almost like a dusting — so when the food hits the dish, it melts right in,” he says.
“It’s one of my favorites,” he says of this sauce, which is a play on all the in-house “secret” sauces featured in “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Though Fieri won’t divulge the exact recipe, it is aioli based with hints of chili powder, mustard and garlic. “It’s great for hot and cold,” he says. “You can use it for cooking, but it’s also great on any crudité platter for dipping.”
Though ostensibly for camping trips, Fieri keeps this cast-iron square sandwich maker right in his kitchen because it’s easy to handle and delivers the delicious goods. “Just take any two pieces of bread, fill it with whatever you want, put it inside and just flip it back and forth,” he says. “You can do sweet or savory.” He also recommends adding a bit of butter or oil in the cooker for flavor.?
It’s a stovetop staple for chefs of all levels for a reason. “Not everyone can afford one,” he says, “but it’s worth the bang for your buck.” The sturdy cast-iron cookware boasts a wide surface that allows ample room for browning food before simmering, while its enamel interior’s light color makes it simple to monitor cooking to ensure less sticking and burning.
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Under no circumstance will the chef reach for pre-ground pepper to season his favorite meats. “Too many people do it and it’s a problem,” he says. “The minute you open up that peppercorn, you lose the essence and the flavor.” That’s why he grabs this high-speed mill — “it’s like a turbo grinder!” — which uses hardened high-carbon stainless-steel burrs to enable fewer turns.
